Offline programming services, good idea?

[Alexander]

Hey guys,

I am a freelance CAD designer and I am seriously considering expanding my services to CAM/CNC offline programming.
My career started as a CNC programmer/settor which was around 17 years ago so I have experience in this sector. One of my clients asked me if I could provide a G-code for a fairly simple part, so I agreed and used AlibreCAM to produce the toolpaths. In the end client was very happy, .
I'm hoping I can get some feedback as to whether this is a good idea or do most machine shops have there own in house programmers & software? I just think this may give me an edge over the competition out there.
Any advice would be great, before I invest in the AC standard (only have AC basic)

Thanks

 

[bigseb]

Difficult one to answer really, only you know what your clients need...

I do CNC work every single day but that company have their own software which I use (Powermill and EZ-Cam) and they're aren't keen on trying out anything different. Other times when companies need help with CNC programming it usually because they don't understand the fundamentals of CNC work and don't understand how their machines operate. That's not something that you'll need software for though.

As someone that has a ton of hands-on CNC experience my thoughts are this: I believe that this sort of work requires constant supervision i.e. stand at the control to monitor everything OR know your machine, tools, software, workflow, etc so intimately that you can set it and forget it while you carry on with your design work. :!:

 

[Alexander]

Thanks Seb,
I was hoping you would reply.

The reason why my client asked me for the code was because it was to complicated to manually input, and they don't have the software or skilled staff.
With the post processing capabilities of the CAM software does this not make it possible to create code for the machines without being on-site to supervise or operate?

 

[bigseb]

I that case...

The reason why my client asked me for the code was because it was to complicated to manually input, and they don't have the software or skilled staff.

Then its up to you to decide whether or not its worthwhile to purchase the software. If yes then definitely go for the full (expert) package, excl 5th axis though. Chances are a machine shop will eventually wise-up and purchase their own software and send their own people for training. That'll leave you with huge financial investment and no means to recoup your money.

With the post processing capabilities of the CAM software does this not make it possible to create code for the machines without being on-site to supervise or operate?

Yes and no. The company that I do CNC work for usually do large 4 to 8 cavity injection moulds so generally I'll set-up, program and run the first cavity/core block and monitor it every step of the way. This way I can check that the program runs the way it should because, believe me, things can go wrong. Powermill , for example, when posting a 3D offset path tends to get confused between G17/G18/G19 so its i,j and k values are all over the show. Result: crash. Another problem are the horizontal lead-in arcs although the latest releases have behaved... so far. There are others but I think you get the point. If you write the programs then you know where it is going to machine, in what order, how deep, etc but you will need to be on-hand to make sure this actually happens. Just read through this forum to get an idea of how many AlibreCAM users have experienced toolpaths going where they shouldn't, machines crashing, unexpected rapid traverses, etc. Beware!

 

[DavidJ]

For what it's worth (which may not be much) - a company that I do some work for puts machining out to several suppliers, the suppliers with CNC equipment all seem to program at the machine rather than use CAM software. This is one reason that my customer isn't all that interested in 3D CAD - they don't see the potential for benefit - all the programming gets done manually from a 2D drawing anyway!

In addition to Seb's words of caution, you might want to try to find out how many potential customers there might be for your service. If those with CNC machines can't/don't/won't see an advantage you won't sell much. I've seen web based services offering wat you suggest, so presumably there is some demand (somewhere). I've a feeling many shops in the UK are still not really exploiting the full capabilities of their CNC machines. At least this means that there are plenty of shops that don't have CAM software, so COULD use your service if they saw benefit.

There may be specific niches where you'd stand a better chance.

 

[Alexander]

Thanks guys, interesting comments.

Seb, I can understand the need to be on-site for the complex 3D programming you are doing, the more complex the part the margins for errors increase.
Initially my aim is to just offer 3 axis simple 2D codes and if I upgrade to 4 & 5 I will then suggest to clients I need to be on site to supervise/operate.

I've a feeling many shops in the UK are still not really exploiting the full capabilities of their CNC machines. At least this means that there are plenty of shops that don't have CAM software, so COULD use your service if they saw benefit.

I agree, and hope these shops are the ones who will bite. My recent client said "Can you prepare G-code for this part as my operator can only do simple geometry" He is not prepared to invest further in training and software because there bread & butter work is sheet metal fabrications.
I am currently preparing a list of local shops to approach and gather some feedback.

Thanks again.

 

[fabcadmz]

You might want to check out a toolpath verification program such as MCU from Northwood Design http://www.nwdesigns.com/ or some other similar program. The trial ran out on my program and we did not buy a license yet so I have not used this program a whole lot but I found it useful to see what the machine is actually going to do, and I saved a few tool collisions that way.